Star gymnast Miyata forced to quit over drink,echo arena guide smoking issues

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

July 19, 2024 at 16:35 JST

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Shoko Miyata (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

With just a week to go until the start of the Paris Games, the leader of Japan’s Olympic women’s gymnastics team has been forced to pull out after she admitted to underage drinking and smoking.

The Japan Gymnastics Association announced the withdrawal of 19-year-old Shoko Miyata, a second-year student at Juntendo University, at a news conference held in Tokyo on July 19.

The association said it received information on July 15 that Miyata has violated the association’s code of conduct for athletes.

It then ordered Miyata to return to Japan temporarily, and she left the pre-Olympic team training camp in Monaco.

Miyata returned to Japan on July 18, and admitted during an interview with officials of the association that she had smoked once in Tokyo and drank once in her room at a training facility between late June and July.

“I was under a lot of pressure, and that is why I did what I did,” she was quoted as saying by the association.

Smoking, like drinking alcohol, is illegal for anyone under the age of 20 in Japan.

In its code of conduct, the association also bans smoking and drinking in places where athletes work as the national team, even if they are 20 or older.

Miyata has won the NHK Trophy, Japan’s top competition, three consecutive times since 2022.

She was selected to represent Japan in the Paris Olympics for the first time.

She won a bronze medal in the balance beam at the 2022 World Championships.

According to the association, the entry deadline for the Paris Olympics has already passed, and no substitutions are allowed except in case of injury.

This means that 24-year-old Aiko Sugihara cannot be moved up to replace Miyata.

In the Olympics gymnastics team event, each team will field five gymnasts. But Japan will have to compete with just four gymnasts.